HTC says it has a plan to make you choose its new phone over the iPhone

HTC
president of the Americas Jason Mackenzie (left) with HTC's CEO
Peter Chou.AP

HTC says it has a plan to tackle the high-end of the smartphone
market.

Over the last three years, HTC has consistently made some of the
best smartphones you can buy.

Its One series of flagship devices were the first to buck the
trend of flimsy, plasticky devices in favor of premium-feeling
metal phones. But even though they were really nice, HTC has
struggled to sell them at a volume even close to what Apple and
Samsung has been able to pull off.

Part of that is a marketing problem. Samsung became king of
Android a little over three years ago thanks to an aggressive ad
campaign and PR push, leaving HTC in the dust. But things
have changed recently. Samsung has seen sales and profits
tumble as more manufacturers have figured out how to make really
nice phones that cost a lot less.

It's the same story for HTC. The challenge ahead of the launch of
its new phone, the HTC One M9, will be to figure out how to
differentiate the device from the zillions of other Android
phones and high-end devices like the iPhone.

Apple now owns the premium end of the smartphone market, leaving
HTC and Samsung struggling to come up with ways to create unique
experiences on pricey Android devices.

In an interview with Business Insider at the Mobile World
Congress this week, HTC's president of the Americas Jason
Mackenzie teased an upcoming announcement ahead of the M9 launch
later this spring that will help set the phone apart from other
Android phones.

"When I look at the flagship [the M9], I see we're building the
most premium device," Mackenzie said. "But I can't stop there. We
have a huge announcement in middle to late march around extreme
differentiation between Samsung and the iPhone. It solves key
pain points."

That could mean anything! Mackenzie wouldn't expand on HTC's
plans, of course. But if we had to guess, it's probably some sort
of iCloud-killer.